Archived Stories
"Most of his pay would be in vegetables"
From the beginning, Chesterfield had both sheep and cattle. Those involved in these industries naturally spent a good deal of time herding, moving the flocks and herds onto new ranges with adequate forage as the seasons changed, keeping a constant vigil over the seasonal lambing and calving, branding calves, and watching over the steady growth of the new stock during the summer months.
Other work in the little settlement included clerking in stores, delivery, making bricks, and early in the present century, working in the creamery. . . . An interesting appeal for a shoemaker was published in the Deseret News in 1886:
"What we are most in need of is a good shoe-and-boot-maker-and-repairer. It would also be necessary for him to understand blacksmithing, tailoring, bricklaying, surgery, medicine and carpet weaving. With these qualifications he would be useful and busy at all seasons of the year. He must have a good, sound constitution, and great patience and power of endurance, and if he should be a vegetarian all the better, as most of his pay would be in vegetables."
It takes little imagination to realize that a shoemaker was indeed a person needed in most settlements. Clothing could be made at home, but shoes were another matter. The list of additional skills desired from the new recruit might seem ludicrous, but it is apparent that these were precisely just the skills that could be put to good use in a place far from cities . . . jacks-of-all-trades were more common then than now.
The village blacksmith-dentist was Lamoni Tolman. James Yancey remembered how one of his front teeth was broken in a fall. His father sent him to Uncle Lamoni to have the tooth pulled. Lamoni, mowing hay at the time, examined the tooth and sent James to the house for the forceps. Then he had James sit up on the mower seat, and "out came the tooth regardless of the pain."
Other work in the little settlement included clerking in stores, delivery, making bricks, and early in the present century, working in the creamery. . . . An interesting appeal for a shoemaker was published in the Deseret News in 1886:
"What we are most in need of is a good shoe-and-boot-maker-and-repairer. It would also be necessary for him to understand blacksmithing, tailoring, bricklaying, surgery, medicine and carpet weaving. With these qualifications he would be useful and busy at all seasons of the year. He must have a good, sound constitution, and great patience and power of endurance, and if he should be a vegetarian all the better, as most of his pay would be in vegetables."
It takes little imagination to realize that a shoemaker was indeed a person needed in most settlements. Clothing could be made at home, but shoes were another matter. The list of additional skills desired from the new recruit might seem ludicrous, but it is apparent that these were precisely just the skills that could be put to good use in a place far from cities . . . jacks-of-all-trades were more common then than now.
The village blacksmith-dentist was Lamoni Tolman. James Yancey remembered how one of his front teeth was broken in a fall. His father sent him to Uncle Lamoni to have the tooth pulled. Lamoni, mowing hay at the time, examined the tooth and sent James to the house for the forceps. Then he had James sit up on the mower seat, and "out came the tooth regardless of the pain."
"How I remember Hatch Idaho"
Written for the Jubilee of Hatch Ward by Christine H. Hatch in 1948
Very vivid in the minds of the oldsters are the foot trails from one house to the other as every one was forced to walk to visit his neighbor. These trails were bare and hard, sometimes in the grain, in the meadow or the willows, but packed so well, they could be followed by moonlight. These settlers were so closely associated they could determine who had good springs. William T. Higginson established his home near one and we all remember obtaining a bountiful supply of watercress each spring...
Not one of the first settlers used tobacco or liquor, and profanity was never, never heard. People could go to other communities and see drinking and smoking, but to these refined people it was not to be tolerated. At one time a government man came on business. He tried to borrow a match for a smoke but not one match could be found among the men in the group. If anyone got out of the line, such as a sleeve above the elbow or short skirt above the ankle, Grandpa Higginson would tap his cane and repeat; “Babylon, Babylon”. Perhaps this training influenced Uncle Bob when he scraped all the skin from his fingers to merely say, “Ouch Old Pole”.
Indians! You can’t imagine how many we saw traveling through or coming for rock chucks and squirrels. Seems like Billy Y’s girls spent half their time under the bed hiding from Indians, and no one ever got hurt.
Not one of the first settlers used tobacco or liquor, and profanity was never, never heard. People could go to other communities and see drinking and smoking, but to these refined people it was not to be tolerated. At one time a government man came on business. He tried to borrow a match for a smoke but not one match could be found among the men in the group. If anyone got out of the line, such as a sleeve above the elbow or short skirt above the ankle, Grandpa Higginson would tap his cane and repeat; “Babylon, Babylon”. Perhaps this training influenced Uncle Bob when he scraped all the skin from his fingers to merely say, “Ouch Old Pole”.
Indians! You can’t imagine how many we saw traveling through or coming for rock chucks and squirrels. Seems like Billy Y’s girls spent half their time under the bed hiding from Indians, and no one ever got hurt.